Movie "16 Right"

[Anthony]

Well I saw it Saturday evening. I expected a larger crowd at the "Wildlife" Experience", but as they didn't even advertise it on the website, what do you expect. It was obvious everyone else there was either a pilot or a spouse/SO of a pilot.

I'm no movie critic, so bear with me. First impression was that it was a "save Van Nuys Airport" piece. The photography is beautiful, with a lot of acro and planes flying low and slow over the surrounding countryside. My favorite parts were of some of the exotic planes and warbirds being pulled out of their hangars. Several interviews of celebs based there, like Lorenzo Lamas, who are advocating the need for the airport. Phil Boyer was interviewed several times as was Barry Schiff. They both did a very nice job of giving reasons why Van Nuys should survive.

The only negative was it felt like a documentary with the only story being the history of the airport. Don't get me wrong, that's plenty for me, but for a non-pilot, I would think it would be more interesting if the followed one person through the film with a storyline around that person, (student pilot, old codger, etc) They did interview a lot of the older pilots that learned to fly there, which was very interesting. It highlighted how much GA has changed over the years and also how many airports have closed.

My wife and I really enjoyed the movie, but it didn't grab me so much that I want to buy the DVD. I would like to see it again, just to get any subtleties I missed on the first viewing. Just my opinion, YMMV.

 

[Toby]

Ahh....see, it's all in the filmmaker's ability to project a vision. A really good film can be about a narrow subject, can be a documentary, but unless the filmmaker has the ability to speak to people's deeper ideals or interests, it will fail. "Winged Migration" was a documentary about birds, but there was that emotional tug most everyone could respond to. A really good documentary is memorable.

Well, thanks for the review, Anthony. Maybe I'll rent it somewhere.

 

[Anthony]

Ahh....see, it's all in the filmmaker's ability to project a vision. A really good film can be about a narrow subject, can be a documentary, but unless the filmmaker has the ability to speak to people's deeper ideals or interests, it will fail. "Winged Migration" was a documentary about birds, but there was that emotional tug most everyone could respond to. A really good documentary is memorable.

It was well done. The best parts for me were at the beginning, just opening hangar doors and cranking up airplanes. That's when I felt the most emotional attachment to the film. It is definitely worth seeing, especially in the Iwerks big screen format, just for the flying scenes alone.

 

[Everskyward]

I saw it Friday evening and thought the same thing about the crowd. I think they would have had more of an audience if it had been better publicized. I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't read about it here and started to investigate.

I thought the movie was well worth my $6. I'm glad I saw it on the big screen, for the scenery and the airplanes. I'm not much of a DVD buyer, especially since I don't necessarily like to see things over and over. In fact the only DVD player I have is the one on this laptop computer I'm typing on.

I enjoyed the movie but I like documentaries and history in general. To me it came across like a shameless plug for GA, which is great, but they need to find a wider audience, maybe on IMAX or cable. Like my friend who was with me said, it's was like preaching to the choir to show it to the people who were there.

One thing I thought was pretty cool about the VNY airport was that viewing area with the airplane tricyles and the runway painted on the ground for kids. I have never seen anything like that before.

 

[Anthony]

One thing I thought was pretty cool about the VNY airport was that viewing area with the airplane tricyles and the runway painted on the ground for kids. I have never seen anything like that before.

Yes! That was really unique. Even though it was fenced off, it still gave "access" to the aiport environment in a safe and friendly manner.

It was interesting that the location of the theater where we both saw the film was right under the approach for Runway 10 at Centennial.